Prasa employees call for Montana re-instatement

Employees and managers at Prasa called for the re-instatement of dismissed CEO Lucky Montana.

Employees and managers at the Passenger Rail Agency of SA (Prasa) called for the re-instatement of dismissed CEO Lucky Montana on Wednesday and for the presidency to intervene at the parastatal.

In a press conference held on the street outside Prasa's head office in Pretoria, head of group stakeholder relations and parliamentary relations Anele Mda said employees had a number of concerns regarding the current state of the rail agency.

In a statement read to assembled media, she said the group of employees has sent a memorandum of its concerns to the office of the presidency, the transport minister, and the Prasa board.

"We call on the minster [of transport Dipuo Peters] to act swiftly and considerably to ensure Prasa is returned to its state if normality and of upholding corporate governance ethics," she said.

"An intervention is sought from the minister to ensure that a state of calm and normality is restored as well as assurance of job security to all employees to eliminate the panic and fear that has since engulfed our work environment."

Among the concerns the group raised were:

- The lack of engaging Prasa employees on the decision of the board regarding the group CEO [Montana]; - The state of Prasa and the extent to which Prasa remains ready to meet all its imperatives, especially regarding the modernisation project;

- Disengaged Prasa employees have been left paralysed by fear and observation of a hostile environment, which they are compelled to work under; and

- Silent victimisation of employees that has ensued with targeted employees being subjected to heavy-handed treatment, especially by management.

On July 16, Prasa announced that Montana had been dismissed with immediate effect and its current chief of operations, Nathi Khena, would take over Montana's duties until a suitable replacement was found.

A statement released by Prasa on the day did not reveal any details about why Montana was fired.

Montana's removal comes amid heat on Prasa, following allegations that the state-owned entity had put millions of rands into new diesel locomotives, which allegedly did not conform to SA rail line standards.

It was, however, unclear whether Montana's dismissal had anything to do with the new locomotives.